This invention relates to a roll forming machine which produces a rain gutter of indeterminate length and, more particularly, to such a machine wherein an adjustment can be made to a particular portion of the profile of the rain gutter in an independent manner without affecting the remainder of the profile.
Roll forming machines are well known in the home building and remodeling industry. Such a machine is typically mounted on the bed of a pickup truck, van, trailer, or the like, so that it can be transported to, and used at, the site where siding panels, roofing panels and rain gutters are to be installed. Typically, such a machine comprises a series of spaced forming stations, each having upper and lower shaping rollers between which a sheet metal strip is passed, so as to impart a desired shape to the sheet metal strip, which is uniform along the length of the sheet metal strip after it exits the machine. Different combinations of rollers provide different lateral profiles to the strip. Conventionally, each machine is designed to provide a single predetermined lateral profile to the sheet metal strip. In order to make an adjustment to a particular portion of the profile, usually the entire station forming that portion of the profile needs to be moved. A need therefore exists to have an arrangement whereby adjustments can be made independently without involving an entire station.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,649 discloses a debris shedding rain gutter which is formed by a roll forming machine. This gutter includes a lower trough and an upper hood, with the lower trough including a back wall and a front wall joined to a bottom wall. When redesigning this gutter to a larger size, it was found that certain adjustments were critical to insure that the upper edge of the front wall of the trough is behind the forward end of the hood. It would be desirable to design the roll forming machine so that the end user could easily make the critical adjustments independently without making other adjustments to the relevant forming stations.